Given that the teenage years are a time of dramatic change for most kids, Zoey may have been headed for trouble with or without social media. It's also true that many students use social media responsibly without compromising their health or school performance. However, growing evidence shows that social media impacts some human needs, and absorption in the digital world can generate a number of psychological problems – from addiction to depression. Young people are especially in danger of a breakdown.
5 One human need considerably impacted by social media is social connection. No doubt, social connection is an essential part of being human and also a significant factor contributing to happiness and health. Thanks to social media, we are the most connected society ever in history. Worldwide, approximately 3.5 million emails are sent per second. Predictably, the younger you are, the more you text. Yet the rise of social media is problematic, for it goes along with an apparent decline in mental health. More people have reported symptoms of being depressed in recent years than in the 1980s. Today's teens, in particular, are more likely to have trouble sleeping and more likely to need a professional for their mental health problems.
6 Certainly, numerous other factors may be driving this trend, but preliminary research links depression with social media usage. A University of Houston study found that the more time college students spent posting and chatting online, the greater the chance they would experience mild depression. The researchers attributed this to something called social comparison. When we compare ourselves to others online, it hurts our self-confidence. We think everyone is doing better than we are. But this is misleading since other people usually post only their successes and good news.
7 It has also been discovered that spending too much time online is interfering with or even causing withdrawal from face-to-face encounters. That is troubling becau